EU's Donald Tusk warns Poland against 'anti-Semitic excesses'

EU President Tusk warns Warsaw must 'stop the wave of bad opinions about Poland' caused by recent 'anti-Semitic excesses.'

AFP, Arutz Sheva Staff, 24/02/18 20:45

Donald Tusk

Reuters

EU President Donald Tusk warned Poland on Friday against "anti-Semitic excesses" and other behavior that risked ruining Warsaw's global standing.

Tusk, a former Polish premier, said he had told Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki on the sidelines of an EU summit in Brussels that negative opinions about Warsaw were turning into a "tsunami."

"I told Mr. Morowiecki that the situation is very serious, it directly affects Polish interests, the reputation of Poland and Poland's standing in the world," Tusk said when a Polish journalist asked him about tensions with the EU.

Tusk said there was a "wave that must be stopped... of very unjudicious anti-Semitic excesses in statements being made in Poland."

Poland's right-wing government has faced an international row over a law making it illegal to attribute Nazi crimes to the Polish state. According to the new law, ascribing "responsibility or co-responsibility to the Polish nation or state for crimes committed by the German Third Reich" could lead to fines or up to three years in prison.